2 Pinoy nurses pass recognition exam in Germany

ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Two Filipino nurses under the Triple Win Project of the Philippines and Germany have passed their recognition examination in Frankfurt.

Krystel Anne B. Sumido and Eowyn C. Galvez are now qualified nurses under the project.

"The future of Filipino nurses in Germany looks bright with the initial success of Misses Sumido and Galvez, who were hired under the Triple Win Project through the POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration)," said DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

POEA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said other nurses deployed to Germany through the project will have a chance to take the recognition examination after initially passing the German TELC test (The European Language Certificates).

"The three nurses who took the TELC test have already passed, or a 100 percent success rate," said Cacdac.

There are now 225 nurses under the program. Of the total, 70 are in language class A1 and A2; 102 nurses due for language classes; four nurses with B1 (or language skills), waiting for employers; and eight nurses with B1 waiting to be deployed.

There were also 16 nurses who have backed out, reducing the number of nurses in active status to 209.

The POEA said since December 2013, a total of 25 Filipinos nurses have been hired under the government-to-government program to work in three hospitals in Frankfurt and Tuebingen in Germany.

The Triple Win Project started in March 2013 after Germany's Federal Employment Agency (BA) and the DOLE signed a bilateral agreement on the project.

Baldoz said the Triple Win Project has apparently found the formula for success through an arrangement which involves the state parties.

The BA’s International Placement Services (ZAV) recruits hospital employers willing to support Filipino candidates, while the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) is responsible for preparing the nurses to be deployed and providing integration services and monitoring of candidates onsite.

On the other hand, the DOLE, through the POEA, recruits and deploys qualified nurses whose immediate goal is to fulfill their requirements for recognition and German language proficiency level required by the respective federal state policies.

"The challenge at hand is getting other qualified employers who can sustain the benchmark that has been established by the hospitals which started participating in Triple Win. BA/ZAV and GIZ are looking for more employers who are similarly willing to invest on foreign nurses and pay for the costs involved in order to facilitate the nurses’ study of the German language in order to be
deployed," Cacdac said.